Vatican
insiders are abuzz this week following news that Pope Benedict XVI's butler,
Paolo Gabriele was arrested by magistrates as the source behind leaked
documents, the so-called Vatileaks scandal that has plagued Rome since
2011. The same experts are quick to speculate that at least one Cardinal
may be operating behind the scene with the butler likely a pawn in a deeper,
internal
power struggle, the words "'scapegoat', 'plot' and 'conspiracy' tripping
off their tongues." [1]

According
to confidants, at the center of this crises and Machiavellian conspiracy
is one man in particular—the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal
Tarcisio Bertone, a priest who has enjoyed solidarity with Pope Benedict
for many years.

After
being elected pope in April, 2005 and taking his place as successor of
John Paul II as Sovereign of the Vatican City State and leader of the
Roman Catholic Church, Ratzinger as “Pope Benedict XVI” quickly
appointed Cardinal Bertone to replace Angelo Sodano as the Cardinal Secretary
of State. On April 4, 2007, Benedict also appointed Bertone as his Camerlengo
to administrate the duty of the Pope in the case of a vacancy of the papacy.
Benedict has since made decisions that indicate Bertone could be (or once
was) his choice for successor, and both men have at times appeared to
be stacking and massaging the Red Hats in Bertone’s favor for the
next conclave.

This
was noted in the May 13, 2011 National Catholic Reporter article,
“A Triptych on Benedict’s Papacy, and Hints of What Lies Beyond,”
when NCR Senior Correspondent John L. Allen Jr. spoke of the shake-up
inside the Roman Curia (the Curia is the administrative apparatus of the
Vatican and, together with the pope, the central governing body of the
Catholic Church) in which Italian Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu was
appointed the Substitute for General Affairs by Pope Benedict XVI. Becciu,
who replaced Archbishop Fernando Filoni for the job, seemed at first an
odd selection to Vatican insiders. “Given how difficult it is to
master the role [of Substitute], many observers found it curious that
Filoni would be shipped out after less than four years, to be replaced
by someone in Becciu who has no previous experience at all working inside
the Vatican,” observed the NCR. [2] But then the nail may have been
hit on the head when the news service added, “When the dust settles,
the most obvious beneficiary of these moves would seem to be Italian Cardinal
Tarcisio Bertone, the Secretary of State, who will not have to be concerned
about the new substitute forming a rival center of power. ” [3]

The
job of the Substitute for General Affairs has been described as the most
complicated and demanding responsibility in the Roman Curia due to the
staggering amount of concerns the Substitute must carry on a daily basis.
Roughly compared to a White House Chief of Staff, the Substitute meets
with the Pontiff usually once per day to administer Vatican affairs and
also regularly reports to the Cardinal Secretary of State (currently Cardinal
Bertone). The organizational “success or failure of a papacy often
rests on his shoulders,” added the NCR. And those who have handled
the office well over the years “have been the stuff of legend: Giovanni
Battista Montini, for instance, was the substitute under Pius XII from
1937 to 1953, and went on to become Pope Paul VI; Giovanni Benelli, who
was Paul’s own substitute from 1967 to 1977, was widely understood
to be the power behind the throne”. [4]

But
if positioning a Vatican novice in the role of Substitute in order not
to challenge future papal possibilities for the Italian Cardinal Bertone
was telling, Pope Benedict even more-so aligned the group-type from which
the next pope will come, when on January 6, 2012 he named twenty-two new
cardinals, most of them Europeans, primarily Italians already holding
key Vatican stations. By elevating these advisors to the Sacred College
of Cardinals at a February 18th ceremony in Rome, the German pope certified
that “Europeans will now number over half of all cardinal-electors
(67 out of 125), and nearly a quarter of all voters in a conclave will
be Italian.” [5] As a result, Benedict seemed to put his definitive
stamp on an Italian successor and lined up those who could give Bertone
the so-called apostolic chair of Saint Peter. Evidently this wasn’t
Benedict’s idea alone, as careful observers “put the large
number of Italian appointments down to the influence of the Pope’s
deputy, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, whose hand
in these nominations, they say, is clearly visible.” [6]

Also
interesting in lieu of recent reports regarding Pope Benedict’s
diminishing health was the February timing of the consistory for the new
cardinals to receive their red hats, rings, and titular assignments in
Rome. Of course the scheduling around the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter
could be cited, but some who work with the pope had been pushing him for
a June (Feasts of St. Peter and Paul) or November (Feast of Christ the
King) consistory, and more often than not Benedict has held consistories
in November (2007 and 2010). So what was the hurry this time around? If
Pope Benedict is considering a 2012 departure as some
Cardinals have speculated and the Pope himself has argued for, the
date and timing in February made perfect sense as a final opportunity
to stack the deck in Bertone’s favor.

Having
stated these facts, one could think with some certainty that Bertone may
be a shoo-in for the next pope. But as we move through 2012, cracks have
appeared in the foundation and not everybody in the Curia—including
Pope Benedict XVI, himself—may wind up as eager to support him as
they once were. As the pope’s health weakens, the sharks smell blood,
and claims of mismanagement have been increasing from competing factions
in the Church that are more than happy to seize opportunity to cast aspersion
on Bertone in order to elevate their own standing among the College of
Cardinals. This may include Archbishop Vigano, whose personal letters
to Pope Benedict and Cardinal Bertone concerning his reassignment as Nuncio
were partially broadcast by an Italian television news program in January
2012, evidently routed to them from the pope’s butler through a
middle-man. The letters, confirmed by the Vatican as authentic, exposed
a blistering relationship between himself and Bertone involving political
jockeying and financial deal making including charges of “corruption,
nepotism and cronyism linked to the awarding of contracts to contractors
at inflated prices.” [7] One of the letters to Cardinal Bertone,
dated March 27, 2011 (eight days before the letter to Pope Benedict),
complained of Bertone removing him from his post and of Bertone “breaking
a promise to let the archbishop succeed the then-president of the commission,
Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, upon the latter’s retirement.
According to the letter, Cardinal Bertone had mentioned unspecified ‘tensions’
within the commission to explain Archbishop Vigano’s reassignment,
but [Vigano] suggested that a recent Italian newspaper article criticizing
the archbishop [Bertone] as incompetent had contributed to the decision.”
[8] Most Vatican sources agree that an internal campaign involving Machiavellian
manipulation and maneuverings—what Phillip Pullella for Reuters
called “a sort of ‘mutiny of the monsignors’”
[9]—is playing out behind the scenes against the pope’s right-hand
man, Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. The same sources say
“the rebels have the tacit backing of a former secretary of state,
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, an influential power-broker in his own right and
a veteran diplomat who served under the late Pope John Paul II for 15
years.” [10] If Sodano was behind the pope’s butler with a
campaign to undermine papal possibilities for Bertone, suspicions deepen
that he may have aspirations himself for the conclave to elect Benedict’s
successor, if he isn’t arrested by Vatican magistrates in the meantime.
And was it just coincidence that the Vatican Bank ousted its president,
Ettore Gotti Tedeschi this past Thursday as well?

Subscribe
to the NewsWithViews Daily News Alerts!

Enter
Your E-Mail Address:

Whatever
the case may be, the January 26, 2012 headline at The New York Times
said it all: “Transfer of Vatican Official Who Exposed Corruption
Hints at Power Struggle,” [11] and echoed the fact that, just like
in American presidential politics, today’s rising star at the Vatican
can all-to-soon become crushed under the juggernaut of ambitious and motivated
men if one does not vigilantly maintain every bit as much cunning as their
challengers.

Over the last decade, he has authored three books,
wrote dozens of published editorials, and had several feature magazine
articles. In addition to past articles at NewsWithViews.com , his
works have been referred to by writers of the LA Times Syndicate, MSNBC,
Christianity Today, Coast to Coast, World Net Daily, White House Correspondents
and dozens of newsmagazines and press agencies around the globe. Tom's
latest book is "The Ahriman Gate," which fictionalizes the use of biotechnology
to resurrect Biblical Nephilim.

Thomas is also a well known radio personality
who has guest-hosted and appeared on dozens of radio and television shows
over the last 30 years, including "The 700 Club" and "Coast to Coast AM."
When looking for a spokesperson to promote their film "Deceived" staring
Louis Gossett Jr. and Judd Nelson, "Cloud 10 Pictures" selected Thomas
as their spokesperson to explain the Christian viewpoint on UFO-related
demonology.

After being elected
pope in April, 2005 and taking his place as successor of John Paul II
as Sovereign of the Vatican City State and leader of the Roman Catholic
Church, Ratzinger as “Pope Benedict XVI” quickly appointed
Cardinal Bertone to replace Angelo Sodano as the Cardinal Secretary of
State.